cannyben

So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. Genesis 16:2 In Genesis 15, God told Abraham that He was going to give him and Sarah a son. The problem was that they were already too old to have children in the natural. Years went by, and finally Sarah told Abraham to sleep with her maid. She watered down the promise and brought it down to the level she thought was possible, and Abraham went along with it. Instead of releasing their faith, believing for the extraordinary, they settled for what they thought was good enough. But the baby Ishmael was not the promised child. Too many times we take what God put in our heart, and instead of coming up to His level and believing for the impossible, we bring it down to what makes sense to us. Get ready for the fullness of what God said.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. Genesis 28:3 Sometimes people will try to convince you that you’re not supposed to be rich and prosperous. However, God wants you to have abundance so you can be a blessing to others. You have so much joy that you bring joy wherever you go. You have so many resources that you can help those around you. You’re going to overflow with creativity, with talent, with ideas. Overflow with great people in your life. Overflow with influence, with respect, with promotion. You may not have seen this yet, but God is about to do a new thing for you.

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. John 20:27 After Jesus rose from the dead, Thomas initially doubted that it was true, but soon believed through Jesus meeting with him. What’s interesting is that Thomas doubted that one time, but he’s been labeled “Doubting Thomas.” You would think he had doubted and questioned his faith for his whole life, but this had been just a few days of his life. It’s easy to let one failure define who you are. If Thomas would have worn that label, he would never have fulfilled his destiny. Yet the Thomas took the gospel to India and made an incredible impact with his life. Are you wearing negative labels from the past? God’s mercies are new every morning. Receive that mercy and move on. Life is too short for you to let what happened in the past keep you from the great things God has in your future.

Past the first guard and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It swung open before them on its own, and they were out on the street, free as the breeze. Acts 12:10 In Acts 12, King Herod had the apostle James killed and then put Peter in prison. Chained between two guards in the deepest part of the prison, Peter was to be brought to trial the following day. Meanwhile the church was praying for him through the night. Herod did everything he could to keep Peter in, but he didn’t realize that he couldn’t keep God out. In the middle of the night, an angel came and led Peter past guard after guard and through the final iron gate to freedom from what would have been the end of Peter. Similar to Peter, if you are facing any closed door in your life, it’s not going to be anything you do. Stay in peace. You and God are a majority.